Head & Neck Cancer Treatment

A number of facial reconstruction options are available to patients following treatment for head and neck cancer: Anaplastology - restoring a malformed or missing part of the human body with a custom-manufactured prosthesis. Dental implants - replacing... Full Answer

Clinical trials are research studies conducted with people who volunteer to take part. Participation in clinical trials is an option for many patients with head and neck cancers. Treatment trials are designed to find more effective cancer treatments and... Full Answer

Of the many possible side effects of radiotherapy (radiation therapy) for head and neck cancer, osteoradionecrosis is one of the most serious. Osteoradionecrosis is the death (necrosis) of bone caused by the disruption of blood vessels due to radiation... Full Answer

Regular follow-up care is very important after treatment for head and neck cancer to make sure the cancer has not returned, or that a second primary (new) cancer has not developed. Depending on the type of cancer, medical checkups could include exams of... Full Answer

Head and neck cancers may require a multidisciplinary approach.  Removal of the cancer may involve an otolaryngologist who focuses on cancer.  Reconstruction would require a plastic surgeon (potentially one who is trained in microvascular... Full Answer

Surgery treats head and neck cancer by removing the tumor cells from the body. The surgeon usually tries to remove the entire tumor, plus an area of normal cells around it. This area of normal cells is often called the margin and the goal of surgery is... Full Answer

Radiation therapy treats head and neck cancer by delivering radiation - usually high-energy x-rays - to the tumor. This radiation kills the cancer cells. Most commonly, the radiation is produced outside the body and then directed at the appropriate body... Full Answer

The current standard of care for most patients with locally advanced squamous cell cancers of the head and neck (HNSCC) is seven weeks of daily intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) to a dose of about 70 Gy, delivered with concurrent... Full Answer

In years past, surgeons frequently planned lymph node dissection (LND) to occur after chemoradiotherapy (chemoRT) for any patients with large or multiple lymph nodes that were present at the beginning of treatment. Now, a frequent recommendation... Full Answer

In the past, the surgery that was most often performed for treatment of tumors in the neck in patients with squamous cell cancers of the head and neck (HNSCC) was called a modified radical neck dissection. This surgery had potential for... Full Answer